Sometimes Avis is cheaper sometimes Budget is cheaper. Booked whose rates are cheaper.
We had an interesting experience at Split Avis. Since we declined insurance (covered by CC), they wanted to authorize like 50K euro - which is more than twice of the value of the rental car at new car stage, but is specified in the Avis Europe T&Cs of the maximum amount the agency would hold should the customer declines insurance coverage. I actually had researched this and brought the document pdf file with me just in case... because many European rental car places do not understand US CC rental car coverage. (Had this happened at locations at Toulousse France, as well as at Adana Turkey but Catania Sicily understood it perfectly.)
I laughed so hard that I had to wait a moment, and then told them I could guarantee you the transaction would be declined prompto. If the authorization(s) being declined a few times, the CC would be locked - then there would be no rental. Your choice...
3 persons huddled to have an impromptu mini conference for a few minutes, then decided to run a 7K authorization... That would be about the car's market value judged by the model and conditons, lol. To my surprise, the 7K euro authorization sailed thru in seconds, given it is a relatively new card .... But since we had a 2 weeks rental, the authorization fell off from the Chase CC. In any event, the card had a very high credit line, a 7K euro block did not make any inconvenience whatsoever.
In many international locations Avis and Budget counters are the same.
One time at Adana, Turkey - reservation was with Avis but the documents were all in Budget's name. In Turkey they charged the full rental cost + a deposit, and issued you a formal letter of that effect. Upon returning the car at Bodrum, they refunded the deposit minus the tolls used, also with a formal letter.
